Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II
Date | December 7, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Venue | Diriyah Arena, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Title(s) on the line | Unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Joshua wins by unanimous decision (118–110, 118–110, 119–109) |
Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II, billed as Clash On The Dunes, was a heavyweight professional boxing rematch between the Mexican-American champion Andy Ruiz Jr. and British former champion Anthony Joshua, for the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight world titles. The event took place on December 7, 2019 at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Al-Turaif, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Joshua won the bout via unanimous decision.[1][2] The bout between Ruiz and Joshua was refereed by Luis Pabon.[3]
Background[]
After losing by seventh-round technical knockout to Andy Ruiz Jr. on June 1, 2019, at Madison Square Garden in New York City in one of the biggest upsets in the history of boxing,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Joshua stated in a post-fight interview that he and his team certainly expect to exercise the rematch clause with Ruiz. Four days after the fight took place, Joshua's promoter and group managing director of Matchroom Sport Eddie Hearn announced on social media platforms that Joshua's management team triggered the contractual rematch clause with Ruiz
Saudi Arabian authorities reportedly paid £30 million ($38.29 million) to host the event in Saudi Arabia.[12]
International broadcasters[]
The fight was streamed live on Fight Sports MAX in MENA region (Saudi Arabia as host), DAZN in the United States and seven other countries, and televised live on PPV's Sky Sports Box Office in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[13][14][15]
Fight card[]
Weight Class | Weight | vs. | Method | Round | Time | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Heavyweight | +90 kg. | Anthony Joshua | def. | Andy Ruiz Jr. (c) | UD | 12 | Note 1 | |
Heavyweight | +90 kg. | Alexander Povetkin | vs. | Michael Hunter | SD | 12 | ||
Heavyweight | +90 kg. | Dillian Whyte | def. | Mariusz Wach | UD | 10 | ||
Heavyweight | +90 kg. | Filip Hrgović (c) | def. | Éric Molina | KO | 3 (12) | 2:03 | Note 2 |
Heavyweight | +90 kg. | Mahammadrasul Majidov | def. | Tom Little | TKO | 2 (8) | 1:49 | |
Lightweight | -61.2 kg. | Zuhayr Al Qahtani | def. | Omar Dusary | UD | 8 | ||
Super middleweight | -76.2 kg. | Diego Pacheco | def. | Selemani Saidi | KO | 1 (4) | 1:38 | |
Featherweight | -57 kg. | Hopey Price | def. | Swedi Mohamed | TKO | 3 (4) | 2:22 | |
Lightweight | -61.2 kg. | Majid Al Naqbi | def. | Ilia Beruashvili | TKO | 3 (4) |
^Note 1 For Unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles [34]
^Note 2 For WBC International heavyweight title
Viewership[]
On Sky Sports Box Office, the fight reportedly broke the all-time UK pay-per-view (PPV) record, according to Eddie Hearn (who said he was told by Sky Sports). The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) revealed that Sky Sports Box Office generated 1.284 million buys on fight night, and a further 291,000 buys over the following two weeks,[35] totaling 1.575 million buys in the UK.[36]
On DAZN, the fight was the most streamed event of 2019.[37] It was watched live by approximately 1.8 million DAZN subscribers across nine markets, according to The Athletic boxing journalist Mike Coppinger, who also said the fight drew 200,000 new subscribers, with most from the United States.[38]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Domin, Martin (August 9, 2019). "Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz Jr rematch date and venue confirmed". mirror.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia to stage Anthony Joshua v Andy Ruiz Jr world heavyweight fight". Arab News. 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
- ^ https://www.express.co.uk/sport/boxing/1214250/Andy-Ruiz-Anthony-Joshua-2-referee-Luis-Pabon-judges-names-Eddie-Hearn. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
- ^ "Anthony Joshua sensationally beaten by Andy Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden". 2019-06-02. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
- ^ "Report: Anthony Joshua 'Hurt Badly' in Sparring Before Andy Ruiz Jr. Knockout". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
- ^ Domin, Martin (2019-11-28). "Andy Ruiz Jr identifies moment he knew he could beat Anthony Joshua". mirror. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
- ^ "What happened to Anthony Joshua, and what did we learn from Andy Ruiz Jr.'s big upset?". ESPN.com. 2019-06-02. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
- ^ "Joshua vs Ruiz Jr: Anthony Joshua beaten by Andy Ruiz Jr in stunning New York shock". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
- ^ Garden, Bryan Armen Graham at Madison Square; York, New (2019-06-02). "Andy Ruiz Jr shocks world with knockout of Anthony Joshua for heavyweight championship". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
- ^ "Anthony Joshua urged to sack trainer after shock defeat to Andy Ruiz: 'You can't go to uni with third grade teacher'". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
- ^ "Andy Ruiz Jr lifts lid on WWE offer after Tyson Fury debut ahead of Anthony Joshua rematch | Boxing | Sport | Express.co.uk". www.express.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
- ^ "Joshua doubles his net worth to over £100m after beating Ruiz in rematch". TalkSPORT. Wireless Group. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
- ^ "Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua rematch to take place in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 7 | DAZN News US". DAZN. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
- ^ "Ruiz Jr vs Joshua 2: Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz Jr rematch to have neutral location and officials". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
- ^ "Fight Sports launches SVOD service in Mena ahead of Joshua-Ruiz". SportBusiness. 2019-12-06. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
- ^ "Andy Ruiz vs Anthony Joshua 2 por ESPN KnockOut". ESPN (in Spanish). 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
- ^ "Ruiz v Joshua 2 | MAIN EVENT". Main Event. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
- ^ Goda, Ines. "Boks: Ruiz vs. Joshua, Hrgović vs. Molina, subota, 7. prosinca na RTL-u". RTL (in Croatian). Retrieved 2019-12-03.
- ^ "TVPlay Sports Eesti on Instagram: "